2nd Timothy 1 13 hold fast the
form of sound words Which thou hast heard of me in faith and
love which is in Christ Jesus That good thing which was committed
unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost Which dwelleth in us This word hold fast, it's simple,
it means lay hold of and don't let go. 1 Timothy 6, we saw this verse
in verse 12, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal
life. That's the way eternal life is
had by God's design. It's not tried, it's not, Experimented with you know they
say isn't it time to try Jesus? That's like saying you might
want to try this You know life preserver if you're drowning
in the middle of the ocean It's not like that Lay hold On eternal life wherein
to thou art also called and has professed a good profession and Before many witnesses it's a
fight fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal
life Now you can't hold on to something that you never had
so The gospel message is get Get and hold Proverbs 4 or 5
get wisdom Get understanding forget it not
and Neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her
not, and she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep
thee. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get
understanding. So that's the message of the
gospel. Get it, lay hold on it, and don't
ever let go of it. Well, where can you get wisdom?
Where do you get, and of course, we're talking about the gospel
wisdom. Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. To know him is wisdom. Where
can you get that? Proverbs 2.3, yea, if thou cryest
after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding.
It's got to be a need, doesn't it? The Lord gives you a need
for it, you cry for it. You lift up your voice. If thou seekest her as silver
and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou
understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God,
for the Lord giveth wisdom. That's where you get it from.
He gives you a need, you cry unto him for it, and he gives
it to you. So simple. Yet the world's religion
has confused that has turned that on its head It starts with
the sinner in the world's religion if you will God will The gospel is if God will you
This is the opposite of man's false gospel The Lord giveth
wisdom. How does he give it? Out of his
mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Not his word, he speaks. We are
his mouth. John the Baptist said he was
what? A voice crying in the wilderness. A voice, whose voice? Not John's. John's message was God's message
concerning the Lamb of God that takes away sin. Now what is this
wisdom that God gives? Does he make you good at math? Some of us would be goners if
that was what it was about. No, God's wisdom is Christ and
his gospel. Turn with me please to 2 Timothy
chapter three, just a page over if you're at chapter one there.
Verse 14. Same context here. 2nd Timothy 3 14 but continue
thou in the things which thou hast learned and we're hold fast
is don't let go don't quit don't stop Looking unto Jesus, it's
not well. I looked unto Jesus. No looking
I Press toward the mark I count not myself to have apprehended
Paul said but I pressed toward the mark For the prize of the
high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus So continue thou
in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured
of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a
child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus." Notice, that wisdom unto salvation does not come through
a high intelligence quotient. It comes through believing on
the son of God. So get wisdom and then hold on
like your life depended on it. Don't let it go when trials come. Don't shift everything to earthly
things when you're going through something. That's when God is
to be glorified, especially is through the trials, through the
heartaches. When he tries our faith, continue,
hold fast. Proverbs 23, 23, this is all
through the word of God, by the truth. and sell it not. What a simple and profound. By the truth, how much does it cost? Solomon
said, with all thy getting, with everything you have, get some
wisdom, some understanding from God. With everything you have,
Use all of your faculties, all of your resources, spiritually
speaking, of course, to lay hold of Christ and don't let go. Buy the truth and sell it not. Judas sold the Savior for 30
pieces of silver, but that was just outwardly. He sold him much
cheaper in here. That's just a picture. The Lord's
just showing us a picture when Judas put a value on betraying
the Son of God. That's showing us a picture of
how cheaply we sell the Son of God. For what? Of course, for gain. The world,
Judas went to the world. He went to the Pharisees or the
religious leaders and said, what will you give me to betray the
Lord? That's the picture. What will
this world give me? And is it worth more to me than
him? Everybody answers that question
in their lifetime. Buy the truth and sell it not,
also wisdom and instruction and understanding. How much does
the truth cost? 1st Corinthians 2 12 now we have
received not the spirit of the world But the spirit which is
of God that we might know the things that are freely given
unto us of God Freely Without money and without
price. Listen to Isaiah 55, one. Ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. This is Christ,
our greatest need. Water, we're starving, we're
in a desert world. Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. How much does it cost? Freely,
without money, without price, because Christ paid the price
for it. But how much does it cost? Matthew
19 21 Jesus said unto him if thou will be perfect go and sell
all that thou hast and give to the poor and Thou shalt have
treasure in heaven and come and follow me Now the latter part
of the verse we read there in Proverbs 23 23 that verse The
latter part's pretty clear. Sell it not. Nothing is worth
compromising or forgetting the truth of God. I use the word forgetting there.
We forget the truth. You wouldn't think we would,
but the word is in the scriptures. I use it because God uses it. Proverbs 4, 5. Get wisdom. get understanding, forget it
not. And also I use that word because
of experience. There are those that at one time
got it. There are those that at one time
got it, at least in their head, they knew, you ask them, Is the whole world worth forsaking
the Lord and innocent? No. No, give me the Lord and
take everything else. They knew that Christ is all.
Well, what happened to them? They just forgot it. They don't
think like that anymore. Hebrews 2.1, therefore we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard,
the gospel, lest at any time we should let them slip. So a great part of what a gospel
preacher does is just remind you, remind you. We come to the table, why? This
do to remember. Second Peter 112, wherefore I
will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of
these things, though you know them. We can all answer the questions,
probably just about everybody in here could answer good, sound
gospel questions right, get the right answers. Then we get out in the world
and it's the cares of this world, that's the concerns, the business
of this world that chokes out the word, that chokes out that
which we are to lay hold of at all cost. Yea, I think it meets, Simon
said, as long as I'm in this tabernacle
to stir you up by putting you in remembrance." I love that
passage of scripture. Simon said, here's what I'm in
the business of doing. I just remind you. I just remind
you of what you already know. And I think as long as I live,
I think that's what I'll do, he said. And then he said, I'm
gonna do everything I can in my power to make sure once I'm
gone, that you're reminded of it. You read that passage sometime,
what a blessing that is. So what we do is remind and we
exhort. Listen to second, I should have
you turn to some of these, but there's so many, I didn't want
you to be turning all day here, but look at second Thessalonians
2.13 with me. Exhort, we exhort. We encourage, we state the Lord's
commands in this regard. Second Thessalonians 2.13. But
we are bound to give thanks all way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the
truth. Boy, we believe in the electing love and grace of God. He hath from the beginning. Before
you were born or had done any good and evil, Romans chapter
nine, He loved you. He said, Jacob have I loved,
you were, I love you, you were. Where unto verse 14, he called
you by our gospel. You see the gospel is not a crap
shoot. It's not shooting a shotgun into
a flock of ducks without even, without discredit, just shoot
it into the hope you hit something. No, God's calling out the ones
that he chose. You see that there? He just calling
them out. He's just telling them what he
did for them. To the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast. It's not therefore kick back
and do nothing, everything's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna
be okay. Stand fast and hold the traditions
which you have been taught, whether by word or by our epistle, preaching
or in the written word of God, same thing. And Paul uses in
our text the word form. Hold fast the form. Now this word means example or
pattern. So he's saying, which you have
learned of me. The form that, in other words,
stick to the example that I've given you, that you've heard
of me in preaching the gospel. It's not complicated. We know exactly what he's saying
there. Was the apostle Paul, by God's grace, a worthy example
for a gospel preacher? Would you be doing pretty good
if you followed Paul's example in preaching, in witnessing for
Christ? First Corinthians 2.2, Paul said,
I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. What else is worth talking about? First Corinthians 1.23, but we
preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block.
It's not what they want to hear. Unto the Greeks foolishness.
It's not what they want to hear but unto them which are called
Both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God Second Corinthians 4 5 for we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves
your servants for Jesus sake for his sake We exist for his
sake we preach for his sake and Colossians 127 was Paul a good
example that he set forth a worthy pattern to follow in this in
holding fast unto the gospel Colossians 127 to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory whom
we preach He didn't say look Christ in you is the hope of
the glory which we preach We preach that truth, no? Whom we
preach. That's so conspicuous in the
Word of God. It's always whom, I know whom
I have believed. Whom we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Romans 1.1, Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated into the gospel
of God, which he had promised to for by his prophets in the
holy scriptures concerning his son. The gospel of Jesus Christ,
the gospel of God concerning his son, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the
son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead. Was Paul a good example in this?
Of preaching Christ and never straying. Never for a second
compromising. First Corinthians 117, for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. He didn't
send me to rack up numbers. How many can we get today? But
to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross
of Christ should be made of none effect. That's what he's preaching,
the cross of Christ, the effectual blood sacrifice of the Son of
God for his people. And Paul uses this phrase in
our text, 2 Timothy, sound words, sound words. The gospel that Paul preached
and that Christ himself preached and commissioned us to preach,
that gospel is free of mixture of error. That's what that word
sound means, free from mixture of error. It's the word used to describe
someone who is in no way sick. their whole, their sound of body
and mind. That's how the gospel is. There's
no, there's nothing in it that's bad for you. You know, the world
gives medicine that's sweet to the taste and boy, it's gummies.
You know, I like to take gummy. That's how I medicate myself,
adult gummies. They taste so good. I don't know
if they're doing anything or not. But the world gives medicine
that tastes great, but it doesn't help you, it's bad for you. The
gospel may be bitter when you first hear it. And the truth of God may, even
after you've heard it and believed it, it may be painful to the
flesh. It is, it will be, it is. The free from mixture of error
of sound body and mind, the sound words of the gospel to preach
that God does as he pleases. That's just sound words. Let
me tell you what you need. I don't make that my business
in human affairs to tell people what they need. I figure they
can figure it out unless they ask. But when it comes to the
gospel, Need a God that does whatever he wants to do. That's
what you need And most people don't want that But that's what
you got to have now Nothing gets better Unless God
does what he wants to do To say God tries but fails, wants
to but can't, offers but doesn't save is unsound. Those are unsound words. And
people know it somewhere deep down. You can't talk about God
and say he sure is trying, you know. That doesn't, it's unsound. It's sick. God is God. That's sound. And it's not sound,
the gospel is not sound because I believe it. It's not sound,
and this is important, because it makes good sense, though it
does. It's sound because it's what
God said. Isaiah 8, 20, to the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them. It's about God said
If the truth is what makes sense Who gets to decide whether it
makes sense or not? What makes perfect sense to me
is foolishness to the world Sound words It's the gospel that
declares that God saves whom he wills God is God in every
aspect of life and eternity. God is God. Romans 9, 15, for
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Doesn't that just sound right?
But it's not sound because it sounds right. It's sound because
God said it. I'll have mercy on whoever I
want to have mercy on. That's what he said. And I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, mercy
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. You know
why mercy is not of him that willeth? Because you're never
gonna want it. You don't even think you need it by nature.
Mercy's for sinners, you see. Mercy's for people whose good
can't outweigh their bad, because they don't have any good. Nobody's
like that by nature. God's got to have mercy on you
before you'll ever cry for mercy. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth or striveth. What are you gonna do about it?
Even in normal things, in earthly matters. You can't expect mercy. You can't demand mercy or it's
not mercy. Does that make sense? Mercy is
the prerogative of the one who has been wronged. You can't just say, forgive me,
and then if they don't, it's their fault now. No, it's your
fault. It's always been your fault.
Whether they forgive you or not, it's your fault. According to God's justice and
law, it is 10 times so. It's not of him that striveth,
there's nothing you can do. With men it is impossible. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God. Mercy is of God that
showeth mercy. A sound words tell us that God
saves sinners by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. People
make this so complicated. Now look, if you want to go home
and read a book that thick about How sinners are saved read it.
I've read them. I've read a lot of them, and
they're good But the scriptures aren't like that it's not complicated
it doesn't have to be systematized. It's very simple Listen to turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 2 I want us to see some context of this think about this
sound words concerning how God saves sinners and Preachers will
preach for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, and nobody
still knows how a sinner is saved. May God teach us that this morning,
how he saves sinners like us, because we need it. Ephesians
2.1, and you hath he quickened. He's writing this, of course,
to the church at Ephesus, the sheep, the elect of God. He said
he gave you life who were dead in trespasses and sin. Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. If you ask the
average person, are you satanic? They say, no, I'm not a devil
worshiper. Yes, you are. You sure are. According to God,
you are. You walk according to the prince
of the power of the air, according to this world, according to that
spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, unless you have
come to Christ and bowed to him and believed on him. Among whom,
verse three, also we all had our conversation in times past,
in the lust of our flesh. I know a devil worshiper when
I see one, because I was one. Don't you? Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath
even as others But here's the difference between the elect
and everybody else but God Who is rich in mercy? For his great
love wherewith he loved us Even when we were dead in sins he
didn't hate you and then all of a sudden love you because
you did something or decided something and He hath quickened,
given life, quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved. And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are you saved through faith. Now you think about that. We're saved through faith. Nobody
is saved without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. But how
does that happen? By grace. By God's grace. You got to give it to you freely. And that not of yourselves. You
didn't work up faith in him. You weren't born with any. It
wasn't a spark that you fanned into a flame. and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. You could read that book that
thick and 10 more like it, and still not know the simple
truth of the gospel, how God saves a sinner. He has mercy
on whom he will, and he gives them faith in his son. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. And they do, don't they? They
do. Well, God did this, but I had
to do that. Yeah. You're gonna be doing that all
the way to hell if that's where the Lord leaves us. For we are his workmanship. People don't usually go that
far in reading this. We are his workmanship. The one that built the house
gets all the glory, not the house. Created in Christ Jesus, created,
created. There's just one creator. Unto good works which God hath
before ordained, that we should walk in them. Boy, I don't know
how you add to that. That can't be clearer. It couldn't
be any clearer. And sound words declare that
salvation is a person. We're chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Chosen in Christ, we talked about
election. How does that happen? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. What does it mean to be in him?
It means to be holy and without blame before God. That's what
it means. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Why does religion talk so much
about your will? when the scriptures talk about
his will. We are, okay, so we're chosen
in Christ, we're predestinated to be conformed to the image
of Christ. Romans 8, 29, for whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. Where is salvation? It's in Christ. What does salvation look like?
It looks like me being exactly like him. That's salvation. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. We are redeemed by Christ, who
shed his precious blood for us. What's the cause of salvation?
Christ crucified. Hebrews 9.12, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. You need to know a little bit
about Old Testament priesthood and the tabernacle to understand
that. By God's grace, we do. We have
a high priest who had somewhat to offer. Hebrews 10, 11, every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. That wasn't the point
of them. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Salvation's a person. We are kept, indwelt, and accompanied by Christ
from conversion to death. Think about those three where
we're kept. We are indwelt and we are accompanied by him from the day we meet him to the
day we die. Not to say that most of that
wasn't true before we ever met him, it was. But in a whole different
sense in our experience of conversion to the truth of Christ. We're kept, first of all, John
10, 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me and I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand Kept by the Son of
God Or indwelt By Christ Galatians
220 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I
But Christ liveth in me The life which I now live in
the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me And gave himself for me And we're accompanied By the
Son of God Hebrews 13 5 let your conduct be without covetousness
and Be content with such things as you have for he hath said
I will never leave you Sometimes there's a disconnect
between scripture. We read the scripture in its
beautiful language and we rejoice in the beauty of it. But have
you ever heard the son of God say to you, not audibly, not
in some weird mystic nonsense, but by faith in his word, Believing
him Have you ever heard him say to you I will never leave you So that we may boldly say the
Lord is my helper And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me How can we boldly say that Avoid like the plague anyone
that preaches any other gospel Second John 1 9 whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ. He hath both the Father and the
Son Pretty clear, right? God saves you he gives you his
truth and You don't have to be a theologian
to be saved, but if God saves you, he'll make a theologian
out of you. That don't mean you're gonna be a brilliant scholar
of some kind, it just means, as Paul said, we know everything
worth knowing. Because God has revealed Christ
to us and in us. And then he said this, if there
come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, this teaching,
receive him not into your house. Don't welcome him. Don't have
anything to do with him. Neither bid him God's speed.
Don't even say, I hope everything goes well for you. I hope it
doesn't go well for him. I hope God stops him in their
tracks and puts him in the dust and reveals himself to him. What
they're doing now, I don't want that to prosper. Turn with me again one time to
Hebrews 6, please. We'll pretty much close with
this, Hebrews 6, 17. What are we saying? Well, lay hold. Lay hold on the truth lay hold
on the gospel And don't let go don't be don't
be deceived Hebrews 617 wherein God Willing more abundantly to
show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel
Confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things,
unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation. Why is it sound words? Because
God said it. God who cannot lie, that's our
consolation. The word of God, not somebody's
interpretation of it, not somebody's opinions about it, the word of
God. We might have strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, the hope of the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ. We lay hold
of that hope, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast. and which entereth into that
within the veil. And this is, pay particular attention
to this part. Because I want to close with
this thought in regard to laying hold of the gospel. Continue
in the things that you've learned. Lay hold of the hope. The anchor
of our soul is the gospel of Christ. The word of God who cannot
lie concerning his son, Jesus Christ. which entereth into that
within the veil, which will get us to God from where we are by
nature. He died the just and the unjust,
what? To bring us to God. Which entereth into that within
the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made in high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, how do you get within that veil? How did any high priest
ever, nobody went into the most holy place except the high priest,
and on the day of atonement, once a year, he went in, it says,
not without blood, to make atonement for the people of Israel. How
do you get inside that veil? Sacrifice. incense, the intercessory
prayer of Christ, the intercession of our Savior, blood. You go
in there with blood, not without blood. What is within the veil?
The mercy seat. The one place on God's earth
where he will meet with a sinner and not destroy him, commune
with him. I will commune with you there
on the mercy seat. That's Christ. Christ is our
mercy seat. The only place you can go and
have favor, fellowship, communion with God. Who gets in? The high priest. Christ is all. How do you get
within the veil? Christ. What's within the veil? Christ. Who gets in? Christ. Christ is all, lay hold on him.
He's our anchor. What's an anchor? An anchor just
has one purpose, one thing. You could probably knock somebody
out with it, but that's not its purpose. It just has one purpose. to stay right where you are,
to not move from where you are. That's what an anchor is. Colossians
121, and you that were at one time alienated and enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death. That's that gospel we lay hold
of. That's the hope, the anchor of our soul, that Christ, in
the body of his flesh, through dying in your place before God,
suffering the wrath of God for your sin, the penalty for your
sin, eternal death, to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight, if you continue, how do I know
you're one of those? if you continue in the faith. In other words, I believe on
him, I believe on him, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settle and be not moved. That's what an anchor's
for. Be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which you've heard, which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. May Christ be all to us. He's how we get in. He's where
we're going when we get in. And the way we get in is through
him. And we're never moved from there.
Because he's our anchor. May Christ always be our all
and in all. May God make it so, let's pray.